Florida Ticks: Lone Star Bites, Alpha-Gal, and Lyme Disease

When to get help

Call 911 for trouble breathing, swelling of the tongue or throat, fainting, or collapse during a suspected allergic reaction. Use prescribed epinephrine as directed. Get emergency care even after using it. CDC says alpha-gal reactions can be life-threatening.

Seek prompt medical care for fever, a spreading rash, a severe headache, or a significant illness after a tick bite or time outdoors. An expanding rash can be Lyme disease or southern tick-associated rash illness. Ehrlichiosis can make a person seriously ill with no rash and with no memory of a bite.

Remove an attached tick right away. CDC says not to wait for an appointment. Identification can wait.
Watch for more than Lyme disease. In Florida, the lone star tick is the species people are most likely to find biting them. It is linked to ehrlichiosis, a rash illness called STARI, and alpha-gal syndrome.
Tell the clinician where you were. Include the yard, the trail, the pet, and any travel outside Florida. A remembered bite is useful. It is not required.
A county map is not a diagnosis. CDC says a tick can live in a region without spreading a particular disease there.

This Is Florida does not diagnose tick bites, rashes, or allergies. A clinician does. This page is general health information from CDC, the Florida Department of Health, and the University of Florida. It is not a diagnosis, and it does not list a drug dose. The clinician chooses the treatment.

The same outdoor day can also mean mosquitoes. The mosquito page and the camping page cover those trips. This page stays on ticks.

How to remove a tick

How to recognize a lone star tick

The scientific name is Amblyomma americanum. CDC says the adult female has a white dot, the “lone star,” on her back. Males and younger stages do not show that single spot, so a tick without the dot can still be this species. A feeding tick also changes size. A phone photo may miss the mark an expert needs.

CDC says lone star ticks bite people as larvae, nymphs, and adults. The smallest ones are easy to miss. People sometimes call a cluster of tiny larval ticks “seed ticks.” That is a nickname for a life stage, not a separate species. Remove attached ticks, then check everyone who was outside, including pets.

Take the tick off first. A clear photo, the date, and the place can help later. The pale spot sits on the adult female’s back, so a picture of the underside does not show it.

Five ticks Florida residents are likely to meet

UF/IFAS describes five hard ticks that people in Florida are especially likely to encounter. The University of Florida also says about 30 tick species live in the state and only a handful threaten people. This table is not a full state list. Finding the species does not prove that the individual tick is infected or that it passed anything on.

Tick	Identification clue	Why it matters
Lone star tick Amblyomma americanum	The adult female has one pale spot on her back. Other stages do not show that single spot.	CDC links this tick to ehrlichiosis, tularemia, Heartland virus, Bourbon virus, STARI, and alpha-gal syndrome. It has not been shown to transmit Lyme bacteria.
Blacklegged tick Ixodes scapularis	Also called the deer tick. CDC says nymphs and adult females are the stages most often found biting people.	This is the eastern Lyme disease vector. It can also carry anaplasmosis, babesiosis, and other pathogens. One ehrlichiosis species it carries, E. muris eauclairensis, has been reported only from Wisconsin and Minnesota.
American dog tick Dermacentor variabilis	CDC says adult females are the stage most likely to bite people. UF/IFAS describes it as a typical outdoor tick.	CDC says it can transmit Rocky Mountain spotted fever and tularemia. UF/IFAS names it as the main transmitter of that spotted fever in Florida.
Gulf Coast tick Amblyomma maculatum	UF/IFAS says adults can look like American dog ticks and have larger mouthparts.	CDC says adults can transmit Rickettsia parkeri, which causes a spotted-fever illness.
Brown dog tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus	Dogs are the main host at every life stage. The tick can also bite people.	CDC says this species can infest homes and kennels. The Rocky Mountain spotted fever spread CDC describes for this tick is in the southwestern United States and along the U.S.–Mexico border.

A local UF/IFAS Extension office can help with identification. The UF/IFAS tick page points readers to that office. Ask before mailing a specimen.

Where ticks turn up in Florida

CDC says ticks live in grassy, brushy, or wooded areas, and on animals. A walk with a dog, gardening, camping, hunting, or time in a yard can be enough. Many people pick up ticks in their own neighborhood. Parks and trail edges count. Deep wilderness is not required.

Ticks cannot fly or jump. CDC describes them waiting on the tips of grass and shrubs, then climbing onto a person or animal that brushes past. Some attach quickly. Others crawl to a thinner spot of skin, such as an ear. A tick found on the head did not have to fall from a tree.

Florida does not have a closed tick season

The University of Florida says ticks are active year-round in Florida’s warm climate, especially in woods, with a peak from April through August. The Florida Department of Health says ehrlichiosis and anaplasmosis cases rise in spring and summer and are also reported in Florida all year.

UF/IFAS gives different calendars for different ticks. Lone star nymphs occur from February through October, and adults from April through August, with a July peak. Blacklegged adults are common from September through May. American dog tick adults are abundant from March through September. Check after outdoor time in every season. Winter is not a free pass.

The June 3, 2026 University of Florida news story also says the overall risk of tickborne illness in Florida remains lower than in many other states. That sentence is about relative risk. It is not a county case count, and it is not an outbreak announcement.

Lone star illness and Lyme disease are different problems

“Lone star tick disease” is not one diagnosis. A bite can leave ordinary irritation, start an infection, cause a rash illness whose cause is still unknown, or lead to an allergy. Those need different care.

Condition	What it is	Typical timing	Important clue
Lyme disease	A Borrelia infection spread by infected blacklegged ticks. In the United States this is most often Borrelia burgdorferi.	Early symptoms often begin 3 to 30 days after a bite. CDC says the average delay for the rash is about 7 days.	An expanding rash occurs in about 70% to 80% of infected people. It can be one color. It is not always a bull’s-eye.
Ehrlichiosis	A bacterial infection. The lone star tick transmits Ehrlichia chaffeensis and E. ewingii, the species important for people in the South.	CDC says symptoms typically begin within 1 to 2 weeks after an infected bite. The Florida Department of Health says 5 to 10 days.	Fever, headache, and body aches. Many adults have no rash.
STARI	Southern tick-associated rash illness. CDC says the cause is unknown. Studies show it is not caused by the Lyme bacteria.	The rash usually appears within 7 days of a lone star bite.	A red rash that expands around the bite and can form a target. It can look like Lyme disease.
Alpha-gal syndrome	An allergy to a sugar called alpha-gal. In the United States it is most often associated with lone star tick bites. It is not an infection and it is not Lyme disease.	The allergy can appear weeks to months after a bite. Reactions usually start 2 to 6 hours after eating a trigger.	Delayed hives, stomach symptoms, breathing trouble, or anaphylaxis after mammal meat or other mammal products.

These times are guides. Symptoms overlap. A clinician uses the exposure, the exam, and the right test. A tick species on a list does not prove that one tick transmitted a disease.

A small bite bump is different from an expanding rash

CDC says a small bump or redness right after a bite, similar to a mosquito bite, is common. It generally fades in 1 to 2 days. By itself, that irritation is not a sign of Lyme disease. Lone star tick saliva can also irritate the skin. Redness at the site does not automatically mean an infection.

A rash that keeps growing, shows up after a delay, or comes with fever or other illness needs a medical visit. Photograph it next to a ruler or another size reference and write down the date. CDC says the Lyme rash can grow over several days to 12 inches (30 centimeters) or more. It may feel warm. It is rarely itchy or painful. It can appear somewhere other than the bite, and it sometimes clears in the center as it grows.

Do not choose between Lyme disease and STARI from a photograph. CDC says the rashes can look alike. The tick may have been misidentified, or never noticed. Recent travel belongs in the history, because an illness found in Florida may have started somewhere else.

Ehrlichiosis: a serious lone star infection

The Florida Department of Health says human monocytic ehrlichiosis, caused by Ehrlichia chaffeensis, is transmitted by the lone star tick, one of the ticks people most often encounter in the Southeast. Ticks become infected by feeding on white-tailed deer or other animals and can pass the bacteria at a later feeding. The blacklegged tick spreads a different illness, anaplasmosis. The Florida Department of Health says anaplasmosis is more likely to be acquired outside Florida.

CDC lists early symptoms in the first days of illness: fever, chills, severe headache, muscle aches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, loss of appetite, confusion, and sometimes a rash. Up to 1 in 3 people report a rash, and the rash is more common in children than in adults. It often appears about 5 days after the fever starts and can look like red splotches or pinpoint dots.

Delayed antibiotics can lead to severe illness, including brain inflammation, breathing failure, bleeding, organ failure, and death. CDC says the risk is higher when treatment is delayed, for children younger than 5, for adults older than 65, and for people with weakened immune systems. The Florida Department of Health says these infections can be severe enough that as many as half of patients need hospital care, and that about 2% of people who become ill with human monocytic ehrlichiosis die.

A person may describe it as the flu after a camping trip. Say so, and mention time in tick habitat even if no tick was found.

CDC says doxycycline is the recommended treatment for suspected ehrlichiosis in adults and children of all ages, and that early treatment can prevent severe illness or death. CDC also tells clinicians never to delay or withhold that treatment while waiting for a lab result, including a first result that is negative. The clinician chooses the medicine and the dose. This page does not print a dose. There is no vaccine.

STARI can look like Lyme disease

STARI means southern tick-associated rash illness. CDC says some people develop a red, expanding rash around a lone star bite, sometimes with fatigue, fever, headache, and muscle or joint pain. The rash usually appears within 7 days and can reach 3 to 12 inches (8 to 30 centimeters). It sometimes clears as it enlarges and looks like a target. That rash is larger than the ordinary irritation at any tick bite.

The cause is unknown. CDC says studies show it is not caused by Borrelia burgdorferi, the main Lyme bacterium in the United States. Lone star ticks have not been shown to transmit that bacterium. CDC also says their saliva has been shown to kill Borrelia. An older idea that a different species, Borrelia lonestari, caused STARI was not supported by later research.

There is no blood test for STARI, because the cause is unknown. CDC says it is not known whether antibiotics are necessary or helpful. Because the rash resembles early Lyme disease, some clinicians treat with oral antibiotics. Do not decide it is “only STARI” and ignore an expanding rash.

Lyme disease symptoms, including for Florida residents

Lyme disease is caused by Borrelia bacteria and spread by infected blacklegged ticks. CDC’s early signs, from 3 to 30 days after a bite, include fever, chills, headache, fatigue, muscle and joint aches, and swollen lymph nodes, with or without a rash. The expanding rash, erythema migrans, occurs in approximately 70% to 80% of people. No rash makes Lyme disease harder to see. It does not make it impossible.

Without treatment, later problems can include severe headache and neck stiffness, more rashes, facial weakness on one or both sides, arthritis with severe swelling especially in the knees and other large joints, irregular heartbeat, dizziness, shortness of breath, nerve pain, and numbness or tingling in the hands or feet. Facial weakness, marked joint swelling, or heart symptoms need medical care.

CDC says people treated with appropriate antibiotics in the early stage usually recover rapidly and completely. The antibiotics most often used are doxycycline, amoxicillin, or cefuroxime axetil. The choice and the length depend on symptoms, age, allergies, and pregnancy. The clinician makes that choice.

Someone can acquire Lyme disease in Florida. The geographic risk is not the same as in the Northeast or upper Midwest. The University of Florida said on June 3, 2026 that overall tickborne-illness risk here remains lower than in many other states. The Florida Department of Health says that, like Lyme disease, human granulocytic anaplasmosis has less than half (45%) of cases classified as acquired in Florida. That 45% figure is about how reported cases were classified. It is not the share of Florida ticks that carry Lyme bacteria. Lower risk is still a reason to tell a clinician about a compatible illness.

Travel matters. An illness diagnosed after a person comes home may have started on a trip.

Symptoms that continue after treatment

CDC says early treatment usually brings a rapid, complete recovery. Some people treated later may already have lasting damage to the nervous system or joints. Antibody tests can stay positive for months or years after the bacteria are gone, so a positive test does not by itself mean the infection is still active. If fatigue, pain, or trouble thinking continues, a clinician should assess those symptoms and other possible causes.

Alpha-gal syndrome: the meat allergy linked to tick bites

Alpha-gal syndrome is an allergy to galactose-α-1,3-galactose, a sugar most mammals make and humans do not. The sugar is also in the saliva of some ticks. CDC says a bite can transfer it into the blood, and the immune system can treat it as a threat. Reactions follow eating red meat or exposure to other mammal products. People also call it red meat allergy or tick-bite meat allergy.

In the United States, CDC says the lone star tick is the tick most often associated with the allergy. A few cases have been reported after blacklegged tick bites. People of all ages can develop it. Most reported cases are in adults, and most are in the South, East, and Central states. Not every bitten person develops it, and CDC says the reason is not known.

CDC reports more than 110,000 suspected U.S. cases identified from 2010 through 2022. The allergy is not nationally notifiable, and CDC says as many as 450,000 people may be affected. That is a national estimate. It is not a Florida case count, and this page is not an outbreak report.

Two clocks make the connection easy to miss. CDC says it can take weeks to months after a tick bite for symptoms of the allergy to begin. Later, a reaction usually appears 2 to 6 hours after red meat, dairy, or another alpha-gal product, such as a gelatin-coated medicine. A person can eat dinner, feel well, and wake in the night with symptoms. The delay does not mean the meal was unrelated.

Symptoms

CDC lists hives or an itchy rash, nausea, vomiting, severe stomach pain, heartburn, diarrhea, cough, shortness of breath, a drop in blood pressure, swelling of the lips, throat, tongue, or eyelids, dizziness, and fainting. Several of those together can be anaphylaxis. Reactions differ between people and can differ from one exposure to the next, even with the same food. Some reactions are life-threatening.

Repeated unexplained hives or stomach trouble during the night, after meals that included mammal products, are worth taking to a clinician or an allergist. They are not proof of the allergy by themselves.

Foods and products that can contain alpha-gal

CDC says a person with the allergy is more likely to react to mammal meat than to other alpha-gal products such as dairy. Not every person reacts to every product. This is not a personal diet. An allergist decides what to avoid.

Food or ingredient	What CDC says
Beef, pork, lamb, venison, rabbit, and other mammal meat	Common triggers. Pork is mammal meat.
Organ meat, including liver, kidneys, intestines, and sweetbreads	These can contain alpha-gal. So can Rocky Mountain oysters.
Gelatin made from beef or pork, and foods cooked in lard, tallow, or suet	Some people react. Meat broth, bouillon, stock, and gravy can also carry mammal ingredients.
Milk and foods made from milk	Many people with the allergy tolerate dairy. Some do not. Cow’s milk is the alpha-gal ingredient that food labels must call out as a major allergen.
Chicken, turkey, duck, quail, fish, seafood, and eggs	CDC lists these among foods that do not contain alpha-gal. Cooking them in mammal fat, broth, or gelatin can still change the plate.
Fruits and vegetables	CDC lists these among foods that do not contain alpha-gal.

Medicines and medical products

CDC says some medicines and vaccines contain additives, stabilizers, or coatings that can include alpha-gal, and that not every patient reacts. Ingredients that may contain it include gelatin, glycerin, magnesium stearate, and bovine extract. Animal-derived products such as pig or cow heart valves, some monoclonal antibodies, heparin, and certain antivenoms may also contain it.

Do not stop a prescribed medicine, refuse a vaccine, or delay emergency care because of a list on a website. Tell clinicians and the pharmacist about a confirmed allergy, especially before a procedure. CDC says the decision is individual, because not every person with the allergy reacts to every product.

How the allergy is diagnosed

CDC says the diagnosis uses a detailed history, a physical examination, and a blood test for IgE antibodies specific to alpha-gal. A clinician may also use a skin test to pork or beef. A positive antibody test does not mean the person has the syndrome. Positive tests occur in people who do not have the allergy, particularly where lone star ticks live. The timing of real reactions matters.

Can it go away?

CDC says some people who avoid further tick bites may later tolerate alpha-gal products again. New tick bites may reactivate reactions. There is no guaranteed date for recovery. Whether to try a food again is a medical decision. Get that guidance from a clinician. Do not use a home meal as the test.

What to do when a tick is attached

Remove it promptly. CDC says not to wait for an appointment or an identification.

Use clean, fine-tipped tweezers. If those are not available, CDC allows regular tweezers or fingers. Grasp the tick as close to the skin as possible. Do not squeeze the swollen body.
Pull upward with steady, even pressure. Do not twist or jerk.
If the mouthparts break off and will not come out easily with tweezers, leave them. CDC says the skin pushes them out over time. Do not dig.
Clean the bite and your hands with soap and water, rubbing alcohol, or hand sanitizer. Check the rest of the body, and check children.
Kill the tick without crushing it in your fingers. CDC’s options include a sealed container, tape, a flush, or alcohol. Write down the date and the likely place.

Do not burn the tick. Do not coat it with petroleum jelly, nail polish, or another substance to make it let go. CDC says not to use heat or those coatings.

A photograph of the tick and of any later rash is useful. Tell the clinician the date and the place if fever or a rash appears over the following days or weeks. CDC also offers a tick-bite guide and a removal fact sheet from the after-a-bite page.

Should the tick be tested?

Naming the tick and testing it for germs are different jobs. CDC says not to use commercial tick-testing results to decide treatment. Those labs are not held to clinical laboratory standards. A positive tick does not prove the person is infected. A negative result can give false reassurance, because another tick may have bitten the person. If illness starts, do not wait for a tick-test result to get care.

Are preventive antibiotics automatic?

No. A tick on the skin is not, by itself, a prescription. CDC says that in certain circumstances, a single dose of doxycycline after a bite in an area where Lyme disease is common may lower the risk of Lyme disease. Ask a clinician whether that applies. It is a Lyme question. It is not a routine step for every lone star bite.

That prevention question is separate from treating a person who is already sick. For suspected ehrlichiosis, CDC says treatment should not wait for laboratory confirmation. The clinician decides.

Is removal within 24 hours a guarantee?

No. The Florida Department of Health says research has shown that removing an attached tick within 24 hours can greatly reduce the chance of infection. CDC’s instruction is still to remove every tick as soon as it is found. A shorter attachment is not a promise that nothing was transmitted, and a longer one is not proof that it was. The allergy is a different problem from a bacterial infection. Do not wait for a clock to run out.

What testing can and cannot tell you

There is no single blood test that answers every tick question.

Lyme disease. CDC recommends FDA-cleared antibody tests that follow a two-step process. The tests can be negative in the first few weeks, often while the expanding rash is present. Sensitivity is better after 4 to 6 weeks. After a test turns positive, antibodies can remain for months or years, so a positive result does not prove a current infection. Some labs that do not take private insurance offer tests FDA has not cleared.
Ehrlichiosis. The useful test depends on how long the person has been ill and whether antibiotics have started. PCR on blood is most sensitive in the first week and loses sensitivity within 48 hours after appropriate antibiotics. A negative PCR does not rule the infection out. Antibody tests are often negative in the first week. CDC says not to withhold treatment because a result is negative or still pending.
Alpha-gal syndrome. The blood test looks for IgE antibodies to alpha-gal. It has to fit the history of delayed reactions. A positive test alone does not establish the allergy.
STARI. CDC says there is no diagnostic blood test.

Bring the exposure date, travel history, tick or rash photos, a symptom timeline, and, when food reactions are the question, the meal times and the reaction times.

How to prevent tick bites in Florida

CDC says reducing exposure is the best protection. There is no vaccine against ehrlichiosis, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, or alpha-gal syndrome.

Before going outside

Know the habitat: grass, brush, woods, leaf litter, wildlife, and pets. Walk in the center of a trail when you can.
Use an EPA-registered repellent labeled for ticks. CDC lists DEET, picaridin, IR3535, oil of lemon eucalyptus (OLE), para-menthane-diol (PMD), and 2-undecanone. The label should show an EPA registration number. Follow the label. CDC says these repellents, used as directed, are proven safe and effective, including for people who are pregnant or breastfeeding.
Do not use products containing OLE or PMD on a child younger than 3. Follow the age directions on the product.
If you use sunscreen, put the sunscreen on first and the repellent second.
For boots, clothing, and gear, use a product containing 0.5% permethrin that is labeled for that use, or buy pre-treated items. CDC says permethrin on clothing can keep working through several washings. Those products are for clothing and gear. They are not skin repellents, and they are not a pet treatment.

The EPA keeps a repellent search tool. Campers can pair this with the camping page.

After coming indoors

Check clothing. Ticks ride inside on fabric.
Dry clothes on high heat for 10 minutes to kill ticks on dry clothing. Damp clothes need more time. If the clothes must be washed first, CDC recommends hot water. Cold and medium-temperature water will not kill ticks.
Shower within two hours when you can. CDC says showering within two hours has been shown to reduce the risk of Lyme disease and may reduce the risk of other tickborne diseases. A shower can wash off ticks that are not yet attached. It does not replace a body check or the removal of a tick that is attached.
Check under the arms, in and around the ears, inside the belly button, behind the knees, in and around the hair, between the legs, and around the waist. Check children the same way. A mirror helps.
Check coats, daypacks, and pets before settling in. A tick can move from a pet or a pack onto a person later.

Around the yard

CDC’s yard steps include removing leaf litter, clearing tall grass and brush around the house and the lawn edge, mowing often, and stacking firewood neatly in a dry place. Keep play equipment, decks, and patios away from the wooded edge. CDC also describes a 3-foot-wide barrier of wood chips or gravel between lawn and woods as a way to reduce blacklegged ticks moving into the yard. That barrier is aimed at blacklegged ticks.

A pesticide can lower tick numbers in the treated area. CDC says not to rely on spraying alone to reduce the chance of infection. Follow the label, and ask local health or agricultural officials about timing and residential rules. UF/IFAS recommends clearing brush along paths people actually use and asking the local Extension office about management. A yard treatment does not replace a body check or a product the veterinarian recommends for a pet.

Dogs, cats, and ticks in the house

CDC says pets bring ticks indoors, where the ticks may later bite people. Check dogs and cats daily, especially after they go outside. On a dog, look in and around the ears, around the eyelids, under the collar, under the front legs, between the toes, between the back legs, and around the tail. Remove an attached tick right away. Illness in a pet may not show for 7 to 21 days or longer. A change in behavior or appetite after a known or suspected bite is a reason to call a veterinarian.

Use a tick preventive the veterinarian recommends for that animal. A vaccine, where one exists, does not stop a dog from carrying ticks into the house. CDC says cats are extremely sensitive to a variety of chemicals. Do not put any tick product on a cat without asking a veterinarian first. A product sold for a dog is not automatically a cat product. Permethrin clothing treatments are not pet medicines.

Repeated ticks on walls, bedding, or around a kennel can be the brown dog tick. CDC says that species is able to infest indoor spaces such as homes and kennels, and that dogs are its main host. Treating only the yard, or removing one tick, can leave an indoor infestation in place. Ask a veterinarian and the local UF/IFAS Extension office which tick it is and how to deal with the source.

Questions

Is the lone star tick new to Florida?

No. The University of Florida identifies the lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum, as Florida's most common human-biting tick. CDC describes the species as widely distributed in the Northeast, South, and Midwest. What is newer is wider attention to the allergy and the infections a bite can be linked to.

Does every lone star bite cause a meat allergy?

No. CDC says not every person who is bitten develops alpha-gal syndrome, and it is not known why some people develop it. A bite alone is not a diagnosis. The diagnosis uses the history of reactions, an examination, and a blood test for antibodies to alpha-gal. A positive antibody test by itself does not mean the person has the allergy.

Can someone be sick without remembering a tick?

Yes. CDC says a tick bite can be painless, and many people do not remember being bitten. Tell the clinician about time in grass, brush, woods, a yard, or travel, even when no tick was found.

Is a bull's-eye rash always Lyme disease?

No. CDC says the rash of southern tick-associated rash illness can look like a target after a lone star bite, and the Lyme disease rash does not always form a bull's-eye. An expanding rash needs a medical assessment. A photograph cannot separate the two.

Does a county tick map show my chance of getting sick?

No. CDC says finding a tick species in a region does not mean that species is spreading a particular disease there. A county map shows where ticks have been recorded. It does not show whether one tick in a yard is infected.

Sources

Checked November 6, 2026. This page does not print county case counts. Where CDC and the Florida Department of Health give different symptom windows for ehrlichiosis, both are stated above. A physician has not reviewed this page. Corrections go through the This Is Florida contact page.

This Is Florida does not diagnose tick bites, rashes, or allergies. A clinician does.

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Florida ticks: lone star bites, alpha-gal, and Lyme disease